Scalar Implicatures in Child Language: Give Children a Chance

Foppolo, Francesca; Guasti, Maria Teresa; Chierchia, Gennaro

doi:10.1080/15475441.2011.626386

Cited by 140 publications

(127 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Srinivasan et al 2013 for details), which suggests that pragmatics impact the interpretation of nouns in the same way as other phenomena, such as the acquisition of scalar quantifiers (some and all -cf. Foppolo, Guasti & Chierchia 2012). …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantity judgment studies in Yudja (Tupi): Acquisition and interpretation of nouns

Lima¹

2018

Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics

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This paper explores the acquisition path and interpretation of substance and object nouns in Yudja, a Brazilian indigenous language. Based on quantity judgment tasks (Barner & Snedeker 2005), we show that children accept both cardinal and non-cardinal interpretations for all nouns (object and substance denoting nouns), while adults strongly favor a cardinal interpretation for all nouns, including substance nouns. We will use the results from these studies to support three theoretical claims from the literature. First, that the pattern observed for adults corroborates previous analyses of Yudja according to which maximal self-connected concrete portions of a kind can be considered as atoms and can be counted (Lima 2014). Second, that counting does not require natural atomicity (cf. Rothstein 2010). Third, that the definition of atoms for counting is the result of lexical, syntactic and pragmatic factors and does not depend solely on the lexical meaning of a noun (cf. Srinivasan & Barner 2016).

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantity judgment studies in Yudja (Tupi): Acquisition and interpretation of nouns

Lima¹

2018

Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics

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“…(This is to say nothing of the intense focus on SIs in adult psycholinguistic studies, which we do not review here.) Researchers around the globe have investigated whether children are able to calculate such implicatures (Noveck 2001), and if so, whether their ability to do so depends on the lexical items featured in the experiment (Papafragou & Musolino 2003;Hurewitz et al 2006;Pouscoulous et al 2007), the nature of scalar implicature being targeted (Papafragou & Tantalou 2004;Barner et al 2011;Stiller et al 2015), the amount of contextual and pragmatic support for implicature calculation (Papafragou & Musolino 2003;Guasti et al 2005), the type of judgment children are permitted to provide and the type of task administered (Miller et al 2005;Katsos & Bishop 2011;Foppolo et al 2012;Syrett et al in press), whether children are given evidence for the importance of contrasting scalar alternatives within an experimental session (Vargas-Tokuda, Gutiérrez-Rexach & Grinstead 2008;Foppolo et al 2012;Skordos & Papafragou 2016;Syrett et al in press) and whether implicature calculation is delayed relative to the generation of semantic material (Huang & Snedeker 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differences between Spanish monolingual and Spanish-English bilingual children in their calculation of entailment-based scalar implicatures

Syrett

Lingwall

Perez-Cortes

et al. 2017

Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics

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In this paper, we extend investigations of the possible effects of cross-linguistic influence at the pragmatics-syntax interface (Hulk & Müller 2000; Müller & Hulk 2001; Serratrice, Sorace & Paoli 2004), by presenting two experiments designed to probe how Spanish monolingual and Spanish-English bilingual preschool-age children approach the ‘some, but not all’ scalar implicature (SI) associated with algunos (‘some’). We compare algunos and unos (also a ‘some’ indefinite, but one that is not context-linked and does not induce an SI), and algunos and todos (the universal quantifier ‘every/all’). The performance of the children is compared to fluent adult Spanish heritage speakers. Experiment 1 is a variation of Noveck’s (2001) statement evaluation task, also replicated by Guasti et al. (2005). Experiment 2 is a forced-choice picture selection task. Results demonstrate that adults were the only group to consistently calculate the SI associated with algunos – a finding that was expected to some extent, given that our tasks were stripped of the contextual support that could benefit children’s pragmatic reasoning. While bilingual and monolingual children displayed comparable performance across tasks, bilinguals in Experiment 2 appeared to experience difficulty with judgments related to todos – a pattern we attribute (in light of independent findings) to the cognitive overload in the task, not the lexical entry of this quantifier. We conclude that young monolingual and bilingual children confront the same challenges when called upon to deploy pragmatic skills in a discourse context.This article is part of the special collection: Acquisition of Quantification

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“…However, results have varied, and there is now mounting evidence that around six years of age, children are able to derive the pragmatic inferences associated with SI (Foppolo, Guasti, and Chierchia, 2012). Variability in results across studies could be due to factors such as data collection methods and language-specific differences.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Research has attempted to identify the age at which children acquire adult-like interpretations; however, this research has led to inconsistent results. Although results have varied, there is evidence that typically developing children can master SI as young as six (e.g., Chierchia, Crain, Guasti, Gualmini, & Meroni, 2001;Huang & Snedeker, 2009;Foppolo, Guasti, & Chierchia, 2012).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Scalar implicature in Chitonga-speaking children

Reich¹,

Nedwick²,

Niculae-Caxi³

et al. 2017

Proc Ling Soc Amer

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Abstract.Research on the acquisition of scalar implicature (SI) has provided evidence that young children interpret SI differently from adults. However, results have varied, and there is now mounting evidence that around six years of age, children are able to derive the pragmatic inferences associated with SI (Foppolo, Guasti, and Chierchia, 2012). Variability in results across studies could be due to factors such as data collection methods and language-specific differences. In order to add to the growing body of literature in a meaningful way, this research investigated the interpretation of sentences that include SI by Chitonga-speaking children (7-15 years old) in rural Southern Province, Zambia, who were notably beyond the key age of six. The results of this study provide valuable insight into the interpretation of SI in a Bantu language and suggest that the acquisition of pragmatic felicity with words on a scale follows the order of acquisition identified in previous research, but may emerge at a later age in this linguistic context.

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Scalar Implicatures in Child Language: Give Children a Chance

Cited by 140 publications

References 35 publications

Quantity judgment studies in Yudja (Tupi): Acquisition and interpretation of nouns

Quantity judgment studies in Yudja (Tupi): Acquisition and interpretation of nouns

Differences between Spanish monolingual and Spanish-English bilingual children in their calculation of entailment-based scalar implicatures

Scalar implicature in Chitonga-speaking children

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